Ron Howard Whaling Tale ‘In The Heart Of The Sea’ Casts Tom Holland

EXCLUSIVE: Brit youngster Tom Holland is moving from his breakout debut The Impossible to another watery high profile project. He’s been cast in Warner Bros.’ In The Heart Of The Sea, the long-gestating seafaring adventure helmed by Ron Howard from a script by Charles Leavitt (Blood Diamond). Chris Hemsworthis starring in the pic adapted from Nathaniel Philbrick’s award-winning book In The Heart Of The Sea: The Tragedy Of The Whaleship Essex, an account of a whaling ship that was stalked and destroyed by a sperm whale in 1820. The tragedy left the crew of the Essex adrift for 90 days in the Pacific during which they turned to cannibalism before eight survivors made it home, an ordeal that partially influenced Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick. Holland is set to star as Young Nickerson, an eager aspiring whaleman aboard the Nantucket-based ship Essex. Filming will commence this September in London and on location. He recently wrapped Kevin MacDonald’s How I Live Now with Saoirse Ronan and Steven Knight’s real time thriller Locke. Holland, who played Billy Elliot onstage in the West End and garnered critical acclaim for his turn in The Impossible, is repped by WME and the UK’s Curtis Brown Group Ltd.